Golden Dragon Group rebranding venues for possible casino move

One of Macau’s richest businessmen, Chan Meng Kam, could be preparing to enter the process that is to select the former Portuguese enclave’s next set of licensed casino operators after rebranding a pair of his local properties to include the word ‘dragon.’

Entrepreneur keen to ‘participate’:

According to a report from GGRAsia, 55-year-old Chan is the man behind privately-owned hotel operator Golden Dragon Group and recently revealed that he was eager to ‘participate’ in the upcoming race for a Macau casino license.

But, GGRAsia reported that Golden Dragon Group also has casino experience due to complement some 200 gaming tables it operates across Macau courtesy of associated piggy-back arrangements with Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited and SJM Holdings Limited. This portfolio includes almost 100 units inside its flagship Hotel Golden Dragon as well as 20 elements for its Royal Dragon Hotel property, which only opened in September.

Two venues rebranded:

The rebranding exercise has now seen Golden Dragon Group change the name of its 209-room Lan Kwai Fong property to Macau Million Dragon. This downtown Macau venue was only acquired from Hong Kong-listed China Star Entertainment Limited for $254.8 million in January and features an 84-table casino as well as shops, restaurants and a spa.

In addition, GGRAsia reported that Grand Dragon Hotel is now the new name for the hotel operator’s 356-room Hotel Taipa Square property in the city’s Taipa district, which comes complete with a 30-table casino alongside a pair of restaurants and a fitness center.

Operators to ‘jockey for position’:

Grant Govertsen from local brokerage firm Union Gaming Securities Asia Limited, reportedly told GGRAsia that he expects to see all of the ‘service providers’ currently utilizing piggy-back gaming arrangements in Macau ‘jockey for position’ in hopes of securing ‘a potential seventh or eighth gaming license.’

Govertsen reportedly told GGRAsia…

“Golden Dragon [Group] is in a unique position in that it controls more casinos and more gaming devices than other service provider operators. We would not be surprised to see further activity within the service provider segment over the coming years.”